Slow Dance
A Novel
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4.0 • 496 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell comes Slow Dance—her smartest, funniest, most powerful novel yet
“If you, like me, think thirty-somethings methodically working through their issues is very hot, Slow Dance is the book for you. The people in it feel like people you know or maybe even people you’ve been. Slow Dance is sexy, sweet, wise, and nostalgic—Jane Austen’s Persuasion for our times.”
— Gabrielle Zevin, New York Times bestselling author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Shiloh Butler was supposed to get out of north Omaha.
She used to sit out on the front porch with her best friend, Cary, and plot their escape. Shiloh was going to be an actress – she had a scholarship to a good school – and Cary was laser-focused on the Navy. Sharp, stoic, golden-eyed Cary . . . thin as a stick of gum and poor as dirt. He was probably the most decent person Shiloh has ever known. She hasn’t spoken to him in fourteen years.
When Shiloh gets an invitation to a high school friend’s wedding, Cary is the first and only thing on her mind.
She desperately wants to see him again, but she doesn’t know if she can bear being seen by him. What would Cary think of Shiloh at thirty-three? A divorced mom living in the same house she grew up in. Someone who works behind a desk, not onstage.
Would Cary even want to see Shiloh after all this time? After everything?
The answer, it turns out, is yes.
In her triumphant return to adult fiction, Rainbow Rowell has written a love story so honest and human – so cathartic – you’ll feel it in your bones. Slow Dance is a power ballad of a book, brimming with Rowell’s signature compassion and wit. It’s deeply affecting and profoundly romantic.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The path to love for the couple in this tender, emotional romance is long—and worth it. In high school, best friends Shiloh and Cary always quietly harbored feelings for each other. But after their one romantic encounter went terribly wrong, they went their separate ways. Now, 14 years later, he’s in the navy and she’s a single mom. And yet, when they reunite at an old friend’s wedding, they discover that the spark between them is still glowing. Author Rainbow Rowell crafts a gorgeously evocative tale around these two flawed and relatable characters. While Cary is straightlaced and Shiloh is quirky and artistic, we could sense what has drawn them together since their teen years in working-class Omaha. Kick back with this wonderfully bittersweet read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestselling YA author Rowell (Eleanor & Park) serves up a powerful and poignant tale of first love for adult romance readers. Growing up in underprivileged north Omaha, Neb., best friends Shiloh, Cary, and Mikey relied on each other—but Shiloh and Cary always had something more than friendship simmering between them. Shiloh asks Cary to be her first sexual experience shortly before he leaves for the Navy. Mike, too, leaves town, heading for New York City, where he becomes a sought-after artist. Only Shiloh is left behind. Fourteen years later, she's still stuck in town, divorced, with two young children, and living with her mother. After Mikey moves back to Omaha and invites both her and Cary to his wedding, the old friends have a chance to start over—but will they take it? Rowell's skillful plotting makes the path to the answer deeply affecting, illustrating how regret holds back her imperfect but appealing characters. Though readers may be irked by some of the obstacles Shiloh and Cary toss into their own paths, it's still easy to root for these two to get a happy ending. Rich, real, and emotionally raw, this satisfying contemporary is sure to impress.
Customer Reviews
Slightly indulgent but very good
I really enjoyed the mature romance story and the teenage romance story was also very good. I think it might have been too much of a good thing to have them both in the same novel.
Still read it pretty much straight through and was happy at the end
Slow Dance
Loved the characters. It was a charming book that kept me entertained throughout.
worth the wait
love love love! the build up was perfect. I finished it in three days and it makes me want more !!